United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review

The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review is a U.S. federal court authorized under UnitedStatesCode|50|1803 and established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (known as FISA for short). It is a three judge panel whose sole purpose is to review denials of applications for electronic surveillance warrants (called FISA warrants) by the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (or FISC). Each judge of the FISC, in turn, has the jurisdiction to oversee requests for surveillance warrants by federal police agencies (primarily the F.B.I.) against suspected foreign intelligence agents inside the United States. Any appeals from the Court of Review are made directly to the Supreme Court. Like a grand jury, the Court of Review is not an adversarial court; rather, the only party to the court is the federal government, although other parties may submit briefs as "amici curiae". Records of the proceedings are kept, but they are classified, although copies of the proceedings with sensitive information redacted may be made public.

The judges of the Court of Review are district or appellate federal judges, appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States for seven year terms. The terms are staggered so that there are at least two years between consecutive appointments. A judge may be appointed only once to either this court or the FISC.

The Court of Review was called into session for the first time in 2002 in a case referred to as "In Re Sealed Case No. 02-001". The FISC had granted a FISA warrant to the F.B.I., but had placed restrictions on its use; specifically, the F.B.I. was denied the ability to use evidence gathered under the warrant in criminal cases. The Court of Review allowed a coalition of civil liberties groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to file briefs as "amici curiae" arguing against the F.B.I's new surveillance regulations. The Court of Review held that the restrictions that the FISC had placed on the warrant violated both FISA and the USA PATRIOT Act and that there was no constitutional requirement for those restrictions.

Current composition of the court

List of former judges

The exact dates of Judge Silberman's tenure are uncertain.

References

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External links

* [http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/082102appeal.html The Department of Justice brief on Case No. 02-001, redacted version, via Federation of American Scientists]
* [http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/hrng090902.htm FISCOR Hearing transcript on 02-001, via Federation of American Scientists]
* [http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/fisa111802opn.pdf The Court of Review's Decision on "In re: Sealed Case No. 02-001", from Findlaw]